KENORA — City council is working out the details for a new committee focusing on public safety.
Kenora council discussed the terms of reference for the community safety and well-being committee at a committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday, after it had previously deferred the item to this meeting in January, directing administration to update and make adjustments.
Since that time the city has put up a job posting for the community safety and well-being coordinator. That posting closes on Feb. 17, however administration said it could be extended if the right candidate isn’t found.
The discussion involved which sectors and organizations should have representation on the committee and which should have voting rights.
Council decided to include a member representing the business community and a member of city council as a voting member of the committee.
Another part of the discussion council had revolved whether the spots on community safety and well-being committee should be filled before a coordinator was hired or if it should wait.
Mayor Andrew Poirier said he was under the impression that the coordinator would work on some of the items and asked what a committee would do in advance of having a coordinator in place.
“We don't want to start this wrong,” he said, adding there needs to be someone coordinating the committee even if it’s another staff member before the coordinator is put in place.
Coun. Kelsie Van Belleghem, said she was unsure about the time frame for hiring people.
“If we don't have someone in that is there. I think there's valuable work that this committee could get started and it might take some time in the interim, to find recruitment in all of these different [sectors in the terms of reference] and maybe, fingers crossed, they sort of line up at the same time.”
She said she would be worried about another staff member taking on the task.
“I do… worry about this sitting on the corner of people's desks as we like to stay around here,” she said.
Coun. Bob Bernie said he agreed with the urgency to get started, but was really cautious of starting this properly and having someone in place to be able to facilitate the work.
Bernie said there will be very strong people at the table and that needs someone with the right ability, “in order to keep this going in the same direction and not have it go in one direction based on the strong personalities and strong agendas at the table.”
“I think we have to follow procedure. We have to follow a pathway and I get we want to get it going, but I think we have to lay our foundation before moving forward,” he said.
Coun. Graham Chaze also spoke about taking the time to make sure everything is in place.
“We're really trying to put together a high performing team and I think the best analogy that I can find is that the coordinator that we're going be hiring as a member of the city staff is more or less the quarterback or the coach or the captain,” he said.“And I don't know about putting that team together without having that role filled first.”
Chaze said since a lot of the city’s influence and direction will flow through the coordinator in terms of what the expectations are, what the rules are, how the meetings are going to be run, what the goals are and how convene meetings with these individuals, having one come in after the committee starts work might make it difficult for the organization to work really effectively.
Coun. Lindsay Koch said “I think it makes sense to start putting it out there now because certainly the people we have already appointed are really wanting to see some movement and the community is wanting to see some movement and I think this is a really easy first step to show that we're working on this.”
In the end, through a four to three vote, council directed administration to start initiating the recruitment processes for the committee independently of hiring a coordinator after the terms of reference are put to a vote during the city council meeting next week.
The updated terms of reference for the committee is expected to be voted on at the next meeting on Feb. 15.
